Fear of bulking up. Myths vs reality

[Guest (Lightsider)]

I do a lot of training for muscle toning and strength training and I often lift heavy weights to do it. Often people say (From women and MtF's) that they do not want to bulk up.

Let's look at that for a moment.

For starters it takes Testosterone to bulk up. If you are blocking this hormone or lack the hormone as is in my case you do not need to worry about bulking up.

"A pound of muscle is the same as a pound of fat." WRONG. Or "I am afraid I will bulk up!" Wrong.

You can still weigh more than the BMI charts say you should and still be healthy. Here is an example. Two people can weigh 200 lbs and one can be healthy and one not. Their BMI charts say their healthy weight should be 170 lbs. The difference is that one person has less fat to muscles and the other has more fat to muscles. 30 lbs of muscle is going to be leaner and tighter than 30 lbs of fat. The one who has muscle will simple look thinner and lighter than his or her fat counterpart.

Fact is a pound of muscle is more compact and takes up less room than fat. So if you are worried about bulking up, stop worrying about it and hit the gym. Lift those weights. And if you do start bulking up, you will see the signs of it and you can alter your routine. You are not going to go to bed one night and wake up the next day and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some people think that might happen. I have been working out intensly for the last 8 months and it takes a ton of work to get to that point. How do I know? Because I am not even close to being bulked up.

That is JUST not going to happen. And remember, the more muscle you have ..the more calories you burn throughout the day.

[Guest Kelly-087]

I've lost so much muscle in my arms since HRT.

Not so much my legs since I'm a long distance runner, and rarely break in training schedule.

I remember this same lecture from a weight training coach in high school, he was trying to convince all the young girls in there which were mostly cheer leaders that it was ok for them to weight train! Most of them thought if they did, they'd end up like the Incredible Hulk.

[Guest LizMarie]

Due to the way my endo is approaching things, I'm focusing on aerobics for now. He does not yet have me on a T-blocker, just estrogen. Consequently I'm a bit loathe to take up activity that will prompt the body into producing more testosterone until I do start t-blockers and get it all the way down to where I want.

[Guest Alexis Haylee]

This was very helpfull to me. I wory about fat alot considering i am a litle on the heavy side already. I am only 5ft 8in tall very thined boned and i 202# I really hate my body sometimes. I was a construction worker for 30 years so my arms are like small canons. it sucks.

[Guest DanD]

i remember in gymn class some girls would use the excuse, for not doing anything in gymn class.. they don't want to to do this or tat, because they don't want to get big muscles. ridiculous excuse. its very difficult and takes an emormous amount of work for a girl to get real muscles built up. they dont bulk out like (some) guys do, girls muscles look leaner but its never a bad idea to be in good shape, and have some strength.